News from The Barnet Society

A service of commemoration and laying of wreaths marked the 555th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet – a service researched and devised by the recently appointed rector of Monken Hadley parish church, the Reverend Francesco Aresco.

A two-year struggle to keep going amid the disruption caused by ending up in the middle of a construction site has finally defeated the landlady of the aptly named Builders Arms in New Barnet.

Young musicians will be to the fore during a summer season of concerts to be held at several High Barnet venues including the parish church of St the Baptist. Barnet viola player Inis Oirr Asano (above), who lives in Underhill, will be appearing with the Elmore Quarter during the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival in June.

Homeless Action in Barnet – a leading charity assisting rough sleepers across the borough – is organising an open day at its headquarters in Woodhouse Road, North Finchley, where a highlight will be a fashion show of outfits created and modelled by some of those who are being supported.

A special 263 Sunday service to Barnet Church – in support of Comic Relief – provided bus passengers a chance to step back in time and hop on board an iconic Routemaster.

Barnet’s music lovers are in for a feast of summer events with organisers announcing programmes for concerts right through to August including an annual highlight of four evening performances in the woods beside Jack’s Lake at Monken Hadley Common.

Litters pickers from Barnet Residents Association fanned out across the town in one of the association’s regular clean ups – the kind of initiative which the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson hopes will be encouraged by his new community action network.

Imagining how the great Victorian novelist Charles Dickens might have spent an evening in the bar at the Red Lion public house in Barnet is the highlight of a new production at The Bull Theatre.

Arkley residents who have been campaigning for several years to safeguard woodland in Rowley Lane were shocked to see protected trees being felled across a one-acre plot – and their anger increased still further when Barnet Council apparently failed to take immediate action to stop the clearance.

Organisers of a busy programme of summer shows and festivals in and around High Barnet hope there will be maximum support this year because today’s tough times are forcing the postponement and even cancellation of some popular events.

Traffic in Barnet High Street was at a standstill after a dramatic late morning crash when a car being followed by police cars struck the side of a No 34 bus waiting in the lay-by next to the Red Lion public house.

Plans are being finalised for a fresh attempt to determine the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet which has remained unidentified despite previous searches and an extensive archaeological excavation.

A sparrow hawk seen hovering and alighting in the trees disrupted the start of the Big Garden Bird Watch which was held at the Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road. Once it had flown off and they no longer felt threatened by a bird of prey, smaller birds returned to the centre’s bird table.

A childhood dream about Punch and Judy led on to a lifetime’s interest in glove puppets which earned the accolade of professor for Barnet’s celebrated Punch and Judy puppeteer Geoff Barrett. He can look back on fifty years’ entertaining countless generations of local children.

With binoculars at the ready the Mayor of Barnet Councillor Danny Rich paid his first ever visit to the Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road, congratulating volunteers for establishing a “fantastic educational resource” for local children.

Four entries from Barnet Classic Car Club had a prime spot in London’s New Year’s Day parade – gaining praise in the live television coverage on Sky News for adding some royal glamour to the event. A look-alike King and Queen in the front of Derrick Haggerty’s 1955 Ford Popular were a surprise attraction.

High Barnet’s popular and well supported free bookshop has had to close unexpectedly because a new tenant is ready to move into their premises at The Spires shopping centre. Volunteers who immediately had to remove for storage their stock of donated books are hoping that another vacant unit might be offered for their use.

Arkley has a new claim to fame – its top two football clubs are now in the same division and when they play each other their home matches are thought to be the closest local derby among leading English football leagues.

An orchestra, two choirs and a brass ensemble filled the chancel of Barnet parish church for the Christmas carol service held by Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School. Father Sam Rossiter, team vicar of St John the Baptist, thanked the school’s musicians and choristers for a “magnificent evening” of music.

Students at Totteridge Academy have designed a sensory maze garden to be developed at GROW, the school’s on-site community farm and the aim is to have it planted and ready for opening by the spring.